How do you organize?

How does everyone organize their books - is there a logic to it (classics here, biography there, etc.), or do you throw the physics textbooks with the Shakespeare? Personally, I think both aesthetics have their merits ;) But then, I have yet to own a bookcase of my own.

Organise your books which are easily accessible to you and suit you. Do you like to clutter ? "An organised mind relates to a healthy mind"

Me and my wife have mostly fiction and organise it alphabetically, but bookcase for bookcase. That way you only need to shift five shelves of book one step to the right when you buy something new. We also have a bookcase of plays and a few shelves of poetry, organised alphabetically. And half a bookcase of non-fiction, roughly divided into subjects.

Then there are the numerous books laying on top of the standing rows, following no order whatsoever, but that's a different story...

Mine are shelved by Library of Congress call number. It's anal, I know, but it keeps things (mostly) organized by subject, and I always know exactly where everything is.

>2 skoobdo: re: clutter and organization. By this measure I must be completely out of my mind.

> #3 - Yes, indeed. Minimizing shifting of books is critical. Sadly, more than half my books are in crates and essentially unorganized. Which is why I am logging the crated books on LT before I do the ones I can actually find by seeing. Of those that are shelved, while I tag at a finer level, I have some smaller bookcases dedicated to specific reading projects while the larger cases are dedicated to major categories. I alphabetize by author within each case.

Mine are organized by general subject categories that make sense for how I tend to use them. In no particular order - History, biography, novels, shorts, poetry, drama, how-to, books, references, genealogy, essays, music, folklore, science/philosophy/theology.

Then, within these groups, I organize as it seems to make sense - if chronological fits (history, etc) then so be it. Many are alpha by author (first letter, only - novels, shorts, poetry, etc.). For some, subcategories (how-to, folklore, and music are subdivided, for example)

I've used much the same categories for 20 years, and I know where nearly every one of my 3,000 or so books is on my shelves, so I guess it works.

Os.

My almost-3200 books are organized by the size of a book fitting on a shelf. I also have books hiding behind other books and books in 6 rooms. So Nancy Drew might be next to The Good News Bible which is next to The Great Gatsby which is next to Benjamin Franklin's
Autobiography.

In order to find a particular book, or all books by an author, or all books with a particular word in a title, etc., I have every book identified with a room/row/shelf identifier. L24 is library, 2nd row, 4th shelf down. S11, Sunroom, first row, first shelf.

It was a huge initial effort, but now when I add a book, I immediately assign it to a location. I do occasionally move books around, but never the "this book needs to be in the middle of this shelf, so the end 2 books have to move down to the next shelf, necessitating the last book on that shelf moving to the next shelf....." kind of movement. Wherever there's room and the book sorta fits into that shelf size, I slap it in.

There are quite a few threads with location tag discussions. I guess now that there are collections, a book could have a location collection or room collection or bookcase # collection.....

I organize my books primarily by collection, category, and size. My oversized books are on the bookshelves on the northwest wall, while my smaller books are on the top shelves above the shelves holding their counterparts.

Most of my books about books are on the shelves along the north wall. My anecdotal books about books are organized in alphabetical order by author. The rest of the books about books and the rest of my library are organized by collection or category.

Mostly by category and then alpha by author. The one exception is comic strip books, which I arrange by series in numerical order.

We're currently using Dewey, but investigating other methods. My favorite genre - Books about Books - means I've now got them scattered about in just about every room on the second floor of my house (except for those that MrsHouseLibrary has chosen to have 'on display' in the Living Room or Dining Room).

Our previous organization was by-order-of-acquisition, and oddly enough, I could always go right to a book I was looking for. It's a whole lot more difficult now, even though a major Dewey section resides in a single room (see exception, above).

I've maintained a separate spreadsheet catalog from prior to joining LT because I track info that LT doesn't -- like the dimensions and weight of each book (in metric and in (whatever the general name is for feet/inches and pounds/ounces)). This came in VERY handy when assigning shelves for the Dewey reorganization! So, in the spreadsheet, I've got a column for Location. An example is: Gn.5.7 - Green Room (my office), bookcase 5 (5th counting from the left as one stands in the doorway, shelf 7 (from the bottom). After that, you're on your own.

>11 WholeHouseLibrary:
(whatever the general name is for feet/inches and pounds/ounces)

Imperial.

Organize? Bwahahaha... Sorry, just a fit of nervous hysteria... I do try.

First there are the books on art techniques and such, which I keep at my studio (physically a different building). For the books I keep in my apartment the basic principle would be: a main separation between fiction and non-fiction (fiction getting placed alphabetically, comics getting separated off again). The non-fiction then should be put by broad historical periods: General / Antiquity / Medieval / Early Modern / Modern - subsections with enough books on that topic getting their own shelves.

In practice however I can't really stick to this system because of space considerations. I'm forced to keep books of roughly the same sizes together. And double shelving further plays havoc on the system. But I do try and I can usually still find any book fairly quick.

By size.
I have mini-books, paperbacks, hardcovers in any size imaginable, art book, etc. Shlef hight is different per shelf to accommodate all books. Some books are so large they have to lay flat on top of the bookcases

I really have no organization to mine - as they are spread out throughout the house, ready to be picked up whenever I might be near. It's a fairly good system, as every once and awhile I will go to the bookshelf and have a "when the hell did I buy this?" moment. It's like going to the bookstore all over again, and I didn't even have to spend any more money!

I try to sort them by theme, writer, whether non-fiction or fiction etc. so that one shelf would hold say, WW2 history, or sci-fi. Also, by format, i try to keep same sized books in the same shelf, and comics etc. in their own.

But i tend to re-organize a lot, so they rarely stay the same for longer than few weeks heh.

I have mass market paperbacks on their own shelve because of their size. Other than that, like #7, by topic for which I bought it, and then whatever makes sense to me. So I have history as a genre, but since my main interest is Medieval History, I have separated those out, and subdivided them even further...

First of all by language, then by size/type (hardback etc). If there are enough of a given subject, they tend to congregate (ie all 20 cm softbacks about WWI are together, large books about aviation idem etc etc). Fiction is arranged by size and then alphabetically.

I have every shelf or box coded with a letter-number combination. I then place the shelf/box tag in the LT database so I can sort by tag, author, title, etc. It sounds complicated but it really isn't, and I can find any book by first referencing LT then going to the shelf or box. The shelves are usually numbered across the room and from top-down. Boxes are stacked in order in aisles, then from bottom to top. When I get in a new book I can add to a shelf and note as a tag in LT, or I can add to a box and as a tag - once the box is filled it's added to the stacks on top of the last number in sequence. I allow LT to manage all the cross-referencing. I end up with one box near my desk that's being filled and just replace it once it's added to the stacks.

The 'display' bookcase is the one that all visitors have to see because it is in the entry 'hall' is a 6' x 7' seven-shelfer. That holds my science fiction and fantasy collection. Alpha by author and by publication date within author. Collections within author and anthologies separate. Some taller books have to be split out to the bottom shelves.

The 'Library' has a 4' x 6' five-shelfer, a 4' x 8' eight shelfer and a 3' x 6' five-shelfer all bought from a (then) local 2nd hand bookshop that was re-locating. This is organised more by subject. Auto/biographies (subject's field of fame eg music, cricket, writers etc) then alpha within each area. Poetry, music, art etc have books with examples and books on the subject shelved together. History, languages, general fiction are other areas.

Not to mention wardrobes, closets etc with bits and pieces and of course Mount TBR and its foothills all over the house.

I no longer tag in LT as to location since I've moved house twice since I joined LT and each move has made each tagging system obsolete.

> 22 - You just made my day. While my crates are not stacked in aisles (they are stacked along inside walls in my basement), and I do not code the location of my books as precisely as you do, your crating system sounds all too familiar. I am currently in process of logging in my crated books. I am less than 1/3 done. The crates will be identified by type of book (mass market, trade, Penguin, specific authors) since I pack by size for efficient use of space and by crate number. I keep at least two crates in my office: one for holding older books I am currently logging in and one to hold incoming. You make crating sound so ordinary and manageable.

I'm about to embark on entering the boxes in the garage - they've never been entered in any of my databases, so I expect some pleasant re-discoveries!

Savor the process!

WHL - I have been! It's been a great pleasure entering all my books one at a time and re-connecting with them - lots of "Wow, I'd forgotten I had that!" and "Gee, I must re-read that soon." :-D

I'm on the verge of finishing an actual physical inventory of my library. It has taken weeks and I've discovered that quite a few books have managed to get on the shelves without being entered into LT... What a mess (not to mention my wife is ready to kill me). When i finish the inventory and get the uncatalogued books into LT, my next step is to organize my books and create tags to indicate on which shelve each book resides.

I will probably do as some others have and shelve by size (rather than book content) to maximize my shelf space. There will be some exceptions (nonfiction books about books, art books, clip art/art resource archives, and such), but not many.

I am still missing an abundance of my books - packed away in boxes and shelves in NY - as for the ones around here - well for the most part there is little to no organization other than "hey look....an empty spot on a shelf *stuffs books into it*" followed usually by a "crap...i need more shelves"

the one exception to this is the manga which for some reason has migrated to the downstairs halfbath and resides alphabetically by title on the window shelves. (there was a window - the view is under the deck - it was deep enough so I added shelves - much better view) :)

The majority of my books are still packed in boxes since out last move. Prior to the move they were very organized. Fiction was alphabetically by author and non-fiction was by category. Currently my organization consists of TBR in a pile by my nightstand, genealogy books in my office, cookbooks on a shelf near the kitchen and everything else stuffed on the few bookcases I have available in the family room. More shelving is on the horizon, then I will really organize!

Currently I have them organized by series and size, but I have many books horizontally on top of the standing books, as all my bookcases in this house have shelves with about 30 cm of space between them and I can't move those shelves.
I have one box as well with books for Bookmooch.
In my future house (I'm a student currently, so I have books in my "own" house, my parents' house and in storage...) I plan to organize them by, hopefully in this order:
-nonfiction, by subject (including dictionaries and learn-this-and-that-language)
-fiction, by:
--author (different language-versions together, my library being multi-lingual already anyway)
--series
Comics and manga separately from the other fiction books (the non-comic books of a manga series (novels) will go into the manga section anyway). Magazines will go to nonfiction or comics, depending on the magazines.
And lastly by size. I don't like to have to put books in the bookcase by size :o

My boyfriend does not have that many books (he mostly reads on the computer), so... I'll see.

Non-fiction: First by topic, then Chronologically by subject matter. Fiction: First by author's country (or closest thing to it), then chronologically. Context is everything.

benjclark .... "Context is everything."

Um... Apparently!

Initially, I ordered them by Library of Congress number except for oversized books and fiction. My oversized books are on a separate shelf, and by LofC #. My fiction are in their own bookcase, alpha by author.

Then...I added books which has been a bit of a mess: some are on top of the place where they should be, but there's no room; and, others are in a separate area for new, and to be read soon, books; and then, still others are by my bed, on the coffee table or on my desks. But I usually can find any book I am looking for within 10 minutes. Works OK for me.

Someday, I'll put newer books in their places and move along the books on the shelves. I am also culling some books out to make more room. At 65, I admit I will not be reading or needing all these hundreds of books. Sigh.

>32 maggie1944: At 65, I admit I will not be reading or needing all these hundreds of books

Hey, one book per week for 10 years = 520 books.

Os.

I clearly don't own enough books, because they're all shelved and they're all easily located.

The primary set of shelves runs along one wall of the living/dining area. Fiction is alpha by author; nonfiction is grouped by subject. I'm a library cataloger by trade but I don't use any official classification system at home. The shelves can look a little odd because I only want one subject per shelf. So some shelves are half books and half knicknacks, while other shelves are so full that they have books laying horizontally atop the others.

Cookbooks and food writing each have smaller bookcases along the opposite wall of the main shelves. The cookbooks are definitely the most frustrating to arrange, especially the by-country section. Bound comics have their own bookcase in the bedroom.

None of my shelves are deep enough for double stacking.

Alphabetically by author, then by title.

I have two collections, basically: books read and books not read.

Books read are organized alphabetically by author, then title.

Books not read are not usually organized, since I like to choose that next book spontaneously.

I've divided my books firstly into fiction and non-fiction. The non-fiction are in two bookcases and were originally organized topic wise but due to doubleshelving and moving etc are in serious need to re-organizing (I may look into the Dewey decimal system since my own 'topic' categories may be somewhat arbitrary).

Now I have far more fiction books than non-fiction and they are spread over several bookcases/shelves. Since some of these were built to order, I wanted to use shelf-space as efficiently as possible, so I've divided the books into size categories. I have 1 bookcase for HB/TPBs (arranged alphabetically by author). 1 bookcase for the 7 1/2 inch tall PBs (also arranged alphabetically by author) and then 3 bookcases of MMPBs (arranged alphabetically by author spread over the 3).

One of the fiction bookcases is basically wall-to-wall shelving and I have been tempted to try something exciting like arranging the books by colour of the spines and so on, but then sanity kicks in and I have to acknowledge that I would a) never have the time, b) never be able to find stuff and that c) this would throw the entire shelving system out of whack.

See

http://www.librarything.com/topic/83767

Each broad topic gets its own bookcase, shelf, or part of a shelf. "Topics" include Fiction, Graphic Novels, Science, Gardening, Reference, Art, Mythology, Religion and Philosophy, and Crafts. Most of the topics are alpha by author, then alpha by series name, then numerical or chronological in the series. I ignore author for graphic novels, reference is actually in no particular order (sort of grouped by type of book), and our art section is by era, then alpha by artist. Crafts is just grouped by craft and role-playing rulebooks are grouped by game system.

Since I work in a bookstore, that influences my categories and organization somewhat, but for some sections, I'm doing what I only wish we did at work. For example, classic works by anonymous authors (Beowulf, the Bible, Gilgamesh, the Sagas, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) I have a small section I call "anonymous lit" which is alpha by title rather than by editor the way most of these are shelved at work. Who wants to chase down all the different translations of the Epic of Gilgamesh all over the poetry section rather than keeping them all together? (Not that I have more than one or two for most of these, but I still don't think of Beowulf as being by Seamus Heaney, when I just want to reach for the title.

When it comes to fiction, I was planning on just organizing alphabetically by author's last name. In the past, I had shelved my fiction hardcover separate from my paperbacks. I am in a new house now and am in the process of building my home library. Do most of you shelve your (fiction) paperbacks together with hardcover or separately?

I have never done it before, but I kind of like the idea of putting the unread books on a different shelf from the others.

BTW, I've never counted, but I would guess that I have several hundred fiction books, maybe over a thousand if I count the paperbacks.

Yes, I shelve fiction books by author's last name too. Hardcovers and paperbacks happily together. Or at least: I try. Size considerations sometimes get in the way.

When I rearranged the books in Dewey order, hardcover and paperbacks were shelved together. We had 6 large custom bookcases built to handle our accumulation collection, and they gave us plenty of room to spare, along with the other bookcases we already had. That lasted less than a year. WholeHouseParents-in-Law died and we added over 450 of their books (and 4 more bookcases), and we ran out of room. As needed, we removed paperbacks to make room for hardcover books, and the paperbacks now occupy a small bookcase in our bedroom.

When we had the bookcases made, I also had a 'Steinbock Shelf' (named after one of my first friends here on LT) made to fit on one of the shelves. It allows double-stacking of paperbacks and keeps all titles visible.

>msg 33, odbaldistone, I can't read one book a week, which is precisely why I realize I'm not going to get to all the unread books I own, in this lifetime. Perhaps in the next I'll start my serious reading at a younger age, maybe 4 or 5 rather than 7 or 8. Do you think that might help?

> 43 I read somewhere that you cannopt pass away until you read all the books that you own. I put my faith into this satement. Rightr now I have a few decades reading ahead of me.

>44 Barton: One of the reasons I keep buying books. ;-) I currently have over 700 books on my 'to read' list (my top priority list...hah!), but I have about 1,500 non-reference books that are lower priority. So, by your rule, and assuming I don't read faster as I get older, I'll be on this mortal coil until I'm at least 95. Of course, there's the list of books I plan to re-read. Hope my eyesight holds up.

>43 maggie1944: Might help. About 11 years ago, I decided not to go anywhere without a book. So now I get in 10-15 minutes of reading while in a doctor's waiting room, picking up one of my kids from school or other activities, waiting on a flight at the airport, etc. I also read on most days at lunch (except when I have company, of course).

All this, added to 1/2 hr or more most evenings at home, has probably doubled the rate that I knock books off my list. Unfortunately, it also appears to have doubled the rate at which I discover books I MUST have, either by association with what I'm reading, specifically referenced in what I read, or recommended by someone who knows what I've been reading.

Reading more makes my hungry for more to read.

Os.

>44 Barton: makes me feel better about all of the unread books that I realized I have when I cataloged them for LT!

As for my organization, majority are fiction and I put them alpha by author... but from them I diverge. I have my favorite, favorite authors as well as signed books in my sitting room. Then my husband's den has his favorite (WEB Griffin, Tom Clancy...), plus some of the action/thrillers some sports books and a couple of bar & booze books. In the Dining room and into the kitchen are the cookbooks, food reference books and food murder mysteries. The family room has my second tier of favorite authors and is always in transition as I get more and relegate some to the basement shelves. The basement has my sci/fi, sad I know, but my daughters wouldn't allow them in the family room, obviously I failed in raising them properly... Also I have the like the author or love the author, but they didn't fit anywhere else in the basement shelves, plus some books & authors that I am weaning myself from before they get the boot (it's hard letting go of a book!). And then a couple of shelves of Dr Seuss (I am not cataloging him) and some YA books, which I have cataloged. I even have a couple of books in my laundry room. Oh yeah, the house & garden books plus some beautiful vintage books are in the family room on either side of the fireplace... and lastly the working garden books are where else, in the garden shed.
I basically took to heart the comments/quotes about how a "home without books" etc. I still need to sneak some books into one of my daughter's room :)

In my mind, the most useful system would correlate to the LT entries. Each entry in LT should direct me to exact location of my book.

>1 ramparts: arranging in order of Library of Congress call number, locally amended to avoid long runs of the same numbers

>4 polutropon: oh, quite agree -- being able to find books is essential!

Library of Congress number! You must be librarians.
I organize my 5000-odd by subject matter and by size of shelf area available. I'm an art historian and currently, "General Art History" and "Dutch/Flemish" (one of my specialties) are in my study because it has a lot of space. Another bookcase in here contains books for current research (small things in the English renaissance). Otherwise, British art is in my office at work (fair amount of space). Italian art and women's studies in the basement. Fiction in the dining room. History in the living room.
Within categories, alphabetical by author unless it's an exhibition catalogue in which case it goes under the city where the show was held. And monographs on artists go under their name.
Oh, and they are organized by sizes as well -- folio on bottom shelves, smaller above. My bookcases were built to the sizes of art history books.
OK, it sounds complicated when I write it all out! But it works for me.

Hopefully the OP has organised their books by now and will come back to tell us about it.

About 80% of my collection is fantasy/ science fiction. (I try to buy mass market paperback size - minimise shelf height => increase the number of shelves in a cupboard.) I shelve them alphabetically by author.

In recent years I've managed to persuade my husband that I need more bookshelves, so we've acquired a few more cupboards. My fiction which is not f/sf gets its own, also arranged alphabetically by author. My non-fiction (under a different LT account, before you go looking) is arranged according to the MDS on LibraryThing. It used to be across two shelves but now has its own cupboard so I have split the different subjects across different shelves, and also use both ends for different subjects. But my cookbooks have moved downstairs, so I don't have to run up and down between the study and the kitchen looking for recipes and ingredients.

ETA: as for cataloguing, the LT phone app makes things so much faster than it used to be when this thread originally started. I catalogued our club library before, during and after its introduction, so I know from experience the difference it makes.

>50 annamorphic: Actually, one of our staff members seriously considered graduate school in archival studies. Now that Westwater is long wound-down (it's been about twenty years), we exist as a collective retirement hobby, working to safeguard our part of the regional industrial heritage.

Plus this: i had a steady part-time gig in an academic library. I suppose that the LC Classification became second nature in our house. TN rocks!

In online cataloguing, we look for a CIP (cataloguing in publication) block, usually found on the back of the title page. Failing that, we construct an LC shelf number by using the relevant volume of the LC classification.

None of which makes our bookshelves any roomier!